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Sheet Music Gives Clues to Labor ConditionsBy Nancy WoodwardPublished on 01/10/2009 Most students who use the American Memory collections are familiar with the use of photos and print materials to interact with history. Visual images have been a part of many students’ pattern for making sense of their world since they listened to picture books being read to them as infants and toddlers. Less familiar to the majority of students is how to interpret what might be called “material objects” such as sheet music, baseball cards, posters, etc. One challenge for us as teachers is how to help our students discover all they can learn from the many “material objects” that are available in the American Memory collections. The lesson that a U.S. history teacher and I compiled on the American labor movement in the late 1800s has several links to sheet music and documents. The lesson, titled "United We Stand" is available on the Learning Page. When we taught this lesson, we discovered that students selected the photographs and prints to begin to understand labor conditions in the United States. Students avoided reading the selected documents or the verses in sheet music until we required them to do so as a part of the assignment. One challenge was to guide students so that they could discover that sheet music gives many clues to social issues at the time the piece of music was written. We tend to forget that our students don’t have a historical reference to a time without radio, TV, CDs, and streaming audio off the Internet. A discussion about how sheet music was used to influence society is a good starting point for using such primary sources. Here’s one idea for providing cues to help students use sheet music. First, print out pages 2, 3, and 4 of the sheet music for Give Our Work Girls a Little More Pay so students have copies to read and interact with. Pose the question: "Were labor unions needed in the late 1800s?" Have students list words in the text that indicate what working conditions were like. What clues do students get about the working conditions for women at that time from such words as poor, weary, half dead, struggle, greedy employers, famine, pittance, and curse? With cues and guidance, students discover that examining primary source documents and sheet music is a rich learning experience. [send article to a friend] [print full article] [return to front page] |
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